One of the most common questions we are asked is whether team building outside of the office is more successful than activities carried out on site.

In theory, the concept of team building itself is relatively simple. Team building aids your staff to reach their full potential, involving mutual trust, support and respect. However, the reality is that it can be much harder to achieve in the real world.

The success of many internally organised team building events is often limited for a number of reasons.

Firstly, staff members chosen to organise internal events can lack (through no fault of their own) the relevant knowledge to deliver team building. 

Secondly, if there are issues and conflict within the group, attempting to resolve them in the same room can lead to employees being defensive and resistant to change.

The obvious way to address these issues is to outsource your team building needs.

Relationship advice specialists always advise couples to deal with conflict in neutral locations, and the same can apply to working relationships. Employees are human and are not programmed to get along with everybody they work with, and arguments will happen. However, the way you address these issues is imperative to the success of your business.

Benefits of using a third party, such as Team Challenge Company

1. Our trained event managers are professionals that host team building events every day. They can see the bigger picture and keep events focused on ensuring your staff aren't wasting time
2. We can work with you to make sure your teams are working towards the same goal
3. We include experiences designed around your existing team and their needs
4. Ensure the activities are suitable for all members of staff in attendance
5. We can help source locations to ensure your team building activities are held in neutral locations

So, whether your business runs from Edinburgh, London, Cardiff or Belfast it pays to get external help for team building activities. Working on these issues on a regular basis will ensure that your teams make professional progress.

For more information, please contact our team on 03300 04 09 03

Employees need to be developed for many reasons, including to maximise their potential, help them along in their career and to integrate them into your already-established team. It is largely down to managers to ensure their employees are able to develop and grow in their role, but some of it comes down to human resource teams who have a duty to look out for the wellbeing of staff – both professionally and personally when it encroaches into the workplace.

If you work in HR and are looking for some ideas on how to improve upon your existing staff development programme, we’ve put together some ideas you might want to consider.

Training 

Training your staff in order to aid their development sounds like a basic and obvious concept, but few companies actually invest in proper training for their employees, and when they do, it’s often not done in the most effective way. A lot of people leave a workplace when they feel like they’re not supported in their role properly, and this usually stems from a lack of training. Sometimes, it’s better to be thrown into the deep end, and this can be a great way to see if new candidates can handle the responsibilities asked of them, but this isn’t always a good thing and can have the reverse effect if adequate support is not offered. 

The solution? Invest in proper training. Whether that’s right at the beginning when you welcome a new person on board, or if it’s ad-hoc throughout the year, setting up training sessions is one of the best ways to develop your staff, and it’s something human resource teams can easily implement. You might choose to do a training week during a period of time when your company isn’t overly busy, or you might choose to spread the training over the course of a few weeks/months if your business doesn’t really have any quiet periods.

Whenever you choose to do the training, you need to ensure you’re doing it in the most beneficial way. A lot of people don’t respond well to be being sat in a meeting room and watching a PowerPoint presentation whilst simultaneously taking notes. It’s disengaging and unstimulating, and many people switch off and lose focus – taking nothing in and, thus, rendering the training pointless. Instead, you can make it interactive. 

Show them what you’re explaining, give them real-life examples and ask them to recreate what they’ve just learned. This will give them the opportunity to really take it all in, put it into practice and learn from other people on the team. They can have open discussions and detail what they’ve previously experienced and how they do things. This provides a great opportunity for them to learn and adapt, whether they’re new or not.

Mentoring

Mentoring is a tactic that is best used with new employees, but it may also be used with existing employees who are looking to progress in their careers and take on new responsibilities. Mentoring involves pairing employees up with someone else – usually a newbie. The mentors are typically long-standing members of the team and tend to be pretty advanced in their careers at the company, making them best-placed to offer insight and support to someone new. 

As well as developing a person’s understanding of the job they’ve been hired to do, mentors are great for staff development because they can offer guidance and advice on the culture of the company; informing newbies of how the company as a whole runs. They can also offer a professional friendship which could be one of the first connections someone makes at a new place at work. 

It is the job of HR to come up with appropriate mentor pairings that will work well, so those who work in human resources will need to have a good understanding of their existing team and the candidates they’re bringing on board. How good a mentor is will depend on the level of training they’ve had, which further cements the point about providing outstanding and regular training. 

Communicate

You can’t expect your employees to grow and adapt unless you communicate with them. Many employers fail to give their employees the feedback and praise they need, but this where HR teams can step in. Employee development in human resource management is closely linked when you take into account the role of an HR person. Their job is to know how employees are feeling and make sure they feel comfortable and happy in their role, whilst ensuring the workplace is a happy and productive place. One way they can do this is in the form of feedback sessions. 

Once a week, or once a month, the HR team could talk to every employee privately and ask them about how their week was, how things went, what could’ve been improved and what they would’ve changed. This will give them a real insight into how people in the office are really feeling and what could maybe be changed to aid development and make things more streamlined and productive. 

How Team Challenge Company Can Help

If you’re struggling to implement effective staff development at your place of work, we can help with our Team Development programme. For more information about it, please contact us.

As we welcome in the New Year, it's time to start looking ahead to what the upcoming year has to offer and create a set of goals and resolutions that are guaranteed to make your company shine throughout this year.

Having spent the last few weeks reflecting on the successes and the not-so-successes of the past year, you are primed to make strategic decisions and hopes for the year to come. In other words, focus on your progress and developments to get started on an effective business plan.

Promotion and Planning

As we've already mentioned, planning is absolutely essential when working towards building a more successful business. Business planning is a time for you to sit down and reflect on the growth of your business to date, and adapt goals and targets as necessary. Take stock of what has been successful and what hasn't and set aside time every week to review and adjust goals.

Promotion is also key, especially for small or growing businesses. If you want to attract new customers or clients, you will need to make promotion one of your priorities. Create a marketing plan or hire a professional to really maximise your potential.

Optimise Your Time

When running a business, there are always 101 things that need to be done at any one time, and with so many things and people demanding your attention, it can be easy to get side-tracked and end up wasting time on things that aren't particularly important in the long run.

Spend your time focusing on the most important things and delegate those that are less important or time-consuming to someone else. Remember - you don't have to do everything yourself.

Give Back

Your employees are the driving force behind your business' success, and as such, it is important to keep them happy and motivated throughout the year. Organise corporate events or a team building day to raise morale and promote a healthy work-life balance while developing vital skills.

Here at Team Challenge Company, we offer a wide range of corporate events that are ideal for boosting morale within your business and warding off the January blues. Choose from events including treasure hunts, murder mystery events, and more traditional team building days - guaranteed to help your employees reach their New Year targets.

Set Realistic Goals

It is vital to have goals - if your employees don't have goals, then they have nothing to work towards. At the same time, it is essential that these goals are realistic and achievable. Make sure the goals are attainable and will give your employees a sense of success and satisfaction when they are completed.

Make Sure It's Working for You

If something isn't working, stop trying to make it work and try a new approach. Countless business hours are wasted every year on pointless tasks and counterproductive goals. If something isn't working, take the time to assess why, then simply move on.

Achieving a healthy work-life balance and keeping your employees happy and motivated throughout the year are the keys to running a successful business. If you take these resolutions and adapt them to your own individual goals and requirements, you will soon be on track to managing a highly successful business this year and beyond.

Scotland offers the perfect setting to hold your next corporate event with its spectacular scenery and green spaces.

We have corporate events inspired by Scotland to suit all sorts of teams. From trying your hand at traditional Highland Games to navigating the beautiful Scottish mountains in our team survival activity Wilderness Challenge. Alternatively, keep it simple with a tailored treasure hunt around Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen.

Highland Games

It doesn’t get much more Scottish than a set of Highland Games, designed to promote team communication and boost staff morale while offering a day of unforgettable corporate excitement.

Take part in a range of activities from the Mighty Caber Toss, Fisherman’s Fly Casting, a Strongman Stone Lift and even Highland Haggis Hurling! The Highland Games event is versatile; split your staff into teams or have them go head to head. We can tailor the events to your team, ensuring staff are engaged throughout the duration of the activity.

At Team Challenge Company, we have the expertise and experience necessary to provide you with the ultimate corporate event or team building activity. Should you require any further information on our Scottish-inspired team building activities or any of the other corporate services we offer, you can contact our booking team today on 03300 04 09 03.

The tradition of making goals and New Year's resolutions no longer just applies to individuals, it can also be beneficial for businesses that are looking to improve and better themselves compared to last year. Some might say that setting resolutions for your team is a well-being strategy, and here at Team Challenge Company we cannot agree enough with this sentiment.  Once the groundwork and foundations are in place, you can then focus on the right team building events that will really cement your team in place.

While resolutions, on the whole, are not a new idea, it can be difficult to transform something that is traditionally a personal journey and apply it to the workplace. We understand the need for this type of goal-oriented motivation in the office, however, so we have come up with a list of ten resolutions that we believe will help you build a stronger team for the new year.

Team Building Inspiration

• Reward staff for their successes and, now and then, for their failures too.  There is no innovation without risk-taking, and if you haven't failed, then you haven't taken enough risks. Drive your business forward by encouraging staff to take risks, and allow them to learn positively from their mistakes. The right candidates will take the criticism constructively
• Roles and responsibilities are subject to change within a growing and evolving business. Clarify job roles regularly and adjust remuneration accordingly. Your staff will retain a sense of pride in knowing their place in the business and will be much more productive as a result.
• Set short and long-term goals; as individuals and as a team. Look at where your staff want to be and work out how you can get there together.
• Encourage team social activities, be it a regular sporting competition, getting involved in charity work or even a work meal once a month. Getting to know each other personally allows for easier communication and working relationships professionally.
• Invest in your staff, whether for further training needs or new office furniture, it will be appreciated, and you will gain a lot in return - more focused staff who are comfortable and engaged in their job
• Increase engagement with team members that aren't based in your main office.

• Hold an annual team building event. Not only is this something for your team to look forward to, but it will also make new members of staff feel more involved and at home
• Consider introducing external help to run your team building events - they can be laborious to plan and organise, so let the experts do the hard work for you
• Set a recycling challenge for the team and do something positive for the local community as well as your business
• Set aside an hour or so once a month for the whole office to get together and have a catch-up. Team updates, personal updates and plans for the future, quick-fire games and awards are a great way to let loose and take a quick break before getting back to work; rejuvenated.

With so many different ways to grow and develop your team, building these resolutions into your schedules should be relatively easy and the results will be forthcoming.

Our team of experts are on hand to offer advice or even plan the entire event. Give us a call or you can get in touch with us via the contact form 

Every business has to contend with the dreaded January blues when their employees come back into the office off the back of a well-earned break, missing the mornings they did not have to answer to an alarm clock.

In order to restore the morale in your office - as well as the smiles and enthusiasm - it is important to kick off the year as you mean to go on and there is no better way to blow away any cobwebs than to organise a team building day in January!

Bringing the team together

A well-planned team building event will bring your team members closer together by working as a collective unit away from the usual office surroundings.

Organising an event that will require employees to work as a team, requiring them to assign tasks to one another, will bring a group together. Also, taking employees out of the office in a completely new setting will eliminate barriers that may be present among the group holding them back in the workplace.

This will see new, positive relationships formed that will then be carried over to the office.

Kicking off the year in style

Planning a fun team building day in January will give your employees something to look forward to at the beginning of the year, helping to banish that post-Christmas slump that many offices suffer from in the opening month.

Many successful businesses develop an approach to team building that sees personal recognition acknowledged, while the real plaudits are awarded to team members who achieve more by working together. In turn, this solidifies that the value of the team is greater than the sum of its individual parts and that everyone - no matter their role - has a key part to play.

Building the team dynamic

Team dynamics will, of course, vary based on the personalities within the team, and even if there are one or two clashes, it doesn't mean that they are unable to work together towards a collective goal.

Setting a team building task in a fun and relaxed environment will help build trust between team members, with everyone's strengths and weaknesses becoming more apparent.

Less confident individuals will also gain a confidence boost when noticing that they may be stronger in areas where others are less so - all of which are important to the individual as well as the team.

The balance of the team will become more apparent with all members able to see where they can improve, both individually and collectively, as they learn more about their group and about themselves as a person.

After spending a rewarding and morale-boosting day together, your team will become a well-oiled machine that is ready to race out of the starting blocks.

Want to know more? Contact us today to organise your team building day to kick off 2017 in style!

Whether you are a business based in London or Glasgow, the build up to Christmas and New Year will inevitably be one of the busiest times of the year. In terms of work to be done, social events and the holidays in general, the next three months will most likely be jam-packed. So with Christmas projects well underway by now and the biggest shopping month of the year ahead of you - are you ready?

These days, it takes more than a simple pep talk to keep teams engaged and focused on the task at hand, as employees are often looking for something more; they aren't happy to settle for okay - as they want the best for themselves, and tend to demonstrate this through the work they produce.

As a result, they are often much harder to satisfy in terms of job satisfaction, and personalities can clash as a result. Reduce stress this holiday period - the busiest time of year - with some team building activities.

HOW TO TELL IF YOUR TEAM IS STRESSED

Although employees within teams and departments are inundated with deadlines at all times, there are a few tell-tale signs to look out for that indicate that the stress might be getting to some team members.

These include days taken off work at short notice, conflict between team members and dropped performance levels; ultimately leading to reduced customer satisfaction, which can and will impact your business if no action is taken.

So, How Can You Rectify This?

As well as wanting to do what you can to reduce the stress in your workplace, employees will feel much better if they feel valued and important within their role, department, and the business as a whole. The best way to ensure that your employees aren't reeling from stress before the Christmas holiday season gets underway is to address any existing issues with morale building team building activities.

FROM ABERDEEN TO LONDON - TEAM BUILDING ACROSS THE UK

No matter where you are based, our event managers can organise a team building day with activities of your choice in a location of your choice. Activities are recommended based on the key areas where you think your team would benefit, whether it is problem-solving, communication, or breaking down and resolving personal issues between colleagues.

Ultimately, all organised activities will encourage all participants to work together more effectively - which is exactly what you need just before Christmas and New Year festivities.

For more information on how our events can help inject a little Christmas spirit into your workplace, please give our team a call today on 03300 04 09 03.

With summer well and truly behind us and the faint jingle of sleigh bells creeping up on us, it's time to think about your Christmas corporate event and how you’d like to treat your hard-working employees at this year.

There’s plenty to consider when trying to book a Christmas party - where you are going to go, will it be an overnight stay, what will your employees eat and what sort of entertainment you want to include. Whether you book a scheduled Christmas party night at a nearby venue or you put together your own night of entertainment, there are plenty of options to choose from. If time is tight or you are struggling for inspiration, why not take the stress out of the occasion and let Team Challenge Company plan the event from start to finish?

We can provide everything from a venue finding service to catering and entertainment - we can even make the room completely themed! If you love a good theme for your corporate parties, consider the following inspiration for your end of year festivities...

Festive

For a traditional Christmas party, choose a festive theme, including seasonal classics like snow-decked trees and gorgeous tabletop poinsettia displays to twinkling lights and hanging stockings. We will transport your guests to a magical winter wonderland that will bring about nostalgic feelings of exciting Christmas Eves spent as children eagerly waiting for the following day! Complete the night with your own Bucking Rudi! Our reindeer-themed answer to the Bucking Bronco, have your guests try their luck as Rudi bucks, twists and jumps to escape his rider.

Black and White

Themed around elegance and style, a black and white party theme sees a striking colour scheme perfect for creating a more formal setting. Relax on prestigiously-decorated tables and finish off the night with our Big Quiz or even a Murder Mystery!

Casino

Black and white but with a less formal, more fun approach, our casino theme nights can be accompanied by our fantastic casino tables and professional croupiers who endeavour to wow and amaze your guests with their tricks and skills straight from the Las Vegas strip. We will provide your guests with fun casino money and chips to play on any of the fully-sized tables and the big winner of the night will be given a winners’ trophy to take home.

Circus

Step right up! Head through the exciting circus tent doors where your guests will be greeted by their ringmaster for the evening. For a night full of delight and thrilling experiences, consider a circus theme for your next party evening. With incredible props and spectacular themed settings, a circus theme is sure to take your employees' breath away as they step into a whole new world.

Have you had any successful themes in the past that employees would like to see again? Maybe you’d like to keep it simple with an evening of good food, great company and some live entertainment? Whether you are currently planning or still need to plan this year’s Christmas corporate event, get in touch with our friendly team who will be thrilled to help you plan something exciting for your employees.

Give us a ring on 03300 04 09 03 or contact us via our online contact form.

People learn in four different ways – from what they see (visual), what they hear (auditory), what they read (reading/writing) and what they do (kinaesthetic) – and, typically, a person may fall into one of those categories. Crossovers commonly happen, but there will be one dominant style of learning which a person will identify with.

This can create a challenge for our team who aim to deliver a team building session that caters for each of the four learning styles; it is essential that every person attending the event can take something away from it. Equally, our events are designed to demonstrate the strength of having a team of varied individuals all working together to achieve a collective goal.

In this post, we will explore how each of the different learning styles is accommodated in our range of team building events.

Here at Team Challenge Company, we take great care and pride in offering an event that not only challenges all those who participate but also allows for everyone to take something tangible away from the experience. When colleagues possessing a range of skills and learning styles can collaborate effectively and efficiently, it makes for a well-oiled machine that helps the business to grow.

For more information on the team building events we offer and how they can help your team-building efforts, please get in touch with us today via our contact page today.

At its core, team building is designed to bring an organisation and the teams within it together, working harmoniously towards a common goal. With the excess of the seasonal holiday now firmly behind you, returning to work in January can feel quite tiresome for many employees.

For many, over-indulgence during the Christmas and New Year break can leave staff members feeling more sluggish and lethargic than usual, with the grey, cold and often rainy weather certainly not helping to lift the mood within the workplace. January can feel longer than other months, too, because many businesses are paid early before Christmas – all of this combined can leave your team flagging a little more than usual as a result. If this sounds familiar, then it could be that you have some January blues to beat before you can really kick the year off as you mean to go on.

Ways You Can Beat the Blues

Much like the lull that comes at the end of summer, January and the middle of winter can make it feel like the much-needed sunshine and respite from the colder weather are almost too far away. If you are looking for ways to motivate your team to get through January with a smile and a vigour for the new year, then keep reading. We have some top tips to help inspire your team to get back to their best.

Want to know more? Get in touch with our event management team today on 03300 04 09 03 to discuss your needs for the year ahead.